Abstract
Simple SummaryThe main point of this review was to describe most of the mechanisms of the biology of trophoblast cells and neoplastic cells, which point out some similarities between them and the way in which both complex metabolic states could interfere with each other. We show the need for more studies about cancer during pregnancy. In addition, the magnitude of how tumour factors can interfere with the course of pregnancy and affect the foetus’s nutrition and health is the most important point that should be studied to better understand and improve treatment for this complex condition. In this context, we have highlighted the importance of maternal nutritional supplementation with leucine, a branched-chain amino acid that improves the placenta’s metabolism and protects the mother and foetus against the harmful effects of cancer during pregnancy.Cancer during pregnancy is rarely studied due to its low incidence (1:1000). However, as a result of different sociocultural and economic changes, women are postponing pregnancy, so the number of pregnant women with cancer has been increasing in recent years. The importance of studying cancer during pregnancy is not only based on maternal and foetal prognosis, but also on the evolutionary mechanisms of the cell biology of trophoblasts and neoplastic cells, which point out similarities between and suggest new fields for the study of cancer. Moreover, the magnitude of how cancer factors can affect trophoblastic cells, and vice versa, in altering the foetus’s nutrition and health is still a subject to be understood. In this context, the objective of this narrative review was to show that some researchers point out the importance of supplementing branched-chain amino acids, especially leucine, in experimental models of pregnancy associated with women with cancer. A leucine-rich diet may be an interesting strategy to preserve physiological placenta metabolism for protecting the mother and foetus from the harmful effects of cancer during pregnancy.
Highlights
Cancer can occur in association with other pathologies and physiological states, such as obesity, ageing, and pregnancy [1,2,3]
Between 70–75% of the O2 consumed by the placenta generates adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation using various substrates, including carbohydrates, amino acids, and probably certain volatile fatty acids
Some studies have stated that the tumoural characteristics for forming metastasis are concerned with the same trophoblast invasion pattern during the placentation process. The evidence for this occurring in both metastasis and the placentation processes includes mechanisms related to angiogenesis, extracellular matrix degradation, and the expression of specific adhesion molecules [44]
Summary
Cancer can occur in association with other pathologies and physiological states, such as obesity, ageing, and pregnancy [1,2,3]. This can result in adulthood outcomes such as impairment in the synthesis of hormones, and in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases [21] In this sense, since maternal nutritional support is critical to conceptus development, some evidence has shown that placental damage occurs in cancer during pregnancy [19,22]. During placenta formation, with trophoblastic cell invasion, the maternal endometrium arteries are rearranged, forming new Cancers 2021, 13, 1667 blood vessels This creates a vascular system that can supply the embryo with nutrients, provide gas exchange, and enable foetal excretion [33]. HCG is extremely important in implantation and nidation and is related to angiogenesis and the suppression of the myometrium contractions, maintaining the pregnancy [36] This glycoprotein hormone is responsible for development and seems to have evolutionary similarities to some pathways found in cancer cells [37]. In the same evolutionary context, hCG participates in promoting communication between the mother and foetus by enabling extremely invasive placentation [38]
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